And her son Paul was. Catherine II's youngest son

“Thank God we are legit!”
/Published in "Russian Word", Prague /

They say that in 1754, the courtiers of the Russian imperial court were whispering about which middle name would be more suitable for the newborn Paul, the son of Grand Duchess Catherine - Petrovich or Sergeevich? Later this rumor turned into a question whether Pavel was interrupted I Romanov bloodline? This can be answered quite definitely - no, she was not interrupted. But the history of the dynasty definitely bent into the realm of fantasy and fiction.

There is a funny historical anecdote: Alexander III allegedly instructed Pobedonostsev, his teacher and respected adviser, to check the rumor that the father of Paul I was not Peter III, but Sergei Vasilyevich Saltykov, the first lover of the future Empress Catherine II. Pobedonostsev first informed the emperor that, in fact, Saltykov could be the father. Alexander III rejoiced: “Thank God, we are Russian!” But then Pobedonostsev found facts in favor of Peter’s paternity. The emperor, however, rejoiced again: “Thank God, we are legal!”

The moral, if it can be deduced from the anecdote at all, is simple: the nature of power is not in the blood, but in the ability and desire to rule, the rest can be adapted to this. At least, this is the nature of imperial power - every empire brings with it a huge number of unresolved contradictions, one more is no big deal.

However, how could this plot and with it numerous variations on this theme arise? Oddly enough, it was largely created by Catherine II. In her “Notes,” she writes about the beginning of her romance with Saltykov in the spring of 1752: “During one of these concerts (at the Choglokovs), Sergei Saltykov made me understand the reason for his frequent visits. I didn’t answer him right away; when he again began to talk to me about the same thing, I asked him: what does he hope for? Then he began to paint me a picture of the happiness he was counting on, as captivating as it was full of passion...”

Next, all the stages of the novel are described in detail, down to the rather intimate ones - rapprochement in the fall of 1752, pregnancy, which ended in a miscarriage on the way to Moscow in December, a new pregnancy and miscarriage in May 1753, the cooling of the lover, which made Catherine suffer, strict supervision established for Grand Duchess in April 1754, which meant the removal of Sergei Saltykov. And Pavel, as you know, was born on September 24, 1754. Peter is mentioned in this chapter of the notes only in connection with his drunkenness, courtship of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting and other ladies, as well as the suspicions that arose in him regarding Sergei Saltykov. From this whole story it follows that Saltykov could be Pavel’s father. Moreover, the author of the Notes creates this impression deliberately.

However, Catherine does not have to be particularly trusted. After all, she had to justify her seizure of power in various ways. After her husband's overthrow, she created so many stories about him and their relationship that historians trying to sort out what is true and what is not will have their work cut out for a long time. (What is, say, Catherine’s fable about a rat allegedly condemned and hanged by Peter on the gallows, having eaten two of his toy soldiers. It’s impossible to hang a rat like a human. The rat’s neck is too powerful for this. And the rope will slip off it. The story is insignificant, and come on, historiographers since the time of S. Solovyov have trustingly repeated it again and again.).

So this story requires an investigation of the motives of Catherine, who for some reason casts a shadow on her own son.

According to historian S. Mylnikov, author of a book about Peter III, Catherine was afraid of potential supporters of Paul, who could demand the throne for a ruler with royal blood in exchange for a foreigner who had usurped power and had no right to it. Before the coup, a proposal was made (by N. Panin, Paul’s mentor) to declare Catherine not an empress, but a regent of the young heir until he came of age. Although it was rejected, it was not completely forgotten.

The empress's move was quite logical from the point of view of political struggle - she once again told her opponents that Paul did not have this blood - not a drop! And she has no more rights to the throne than her mother. But perhaps Catherine was motivated by other considerations. Maybe she once again put herself, her needs, desires and talents in the foreground instead of some kind of royal blood that created a husband she despised and, in general, worthless.

And S. Mylnikov convincingly proves that Peter III certainly considered Paul his son. He compares the notice of the birth of his son, which he sent to Frederick II, with a similar notice of the birth of his daughter Anna, which was definitely from Catherine’s next lover, Stanislav Poniatowski, which Peter knew about. Indeed, the difference between the two letters is great.

Another historian, N. Pavlenko, holds a different point of view. He writes: “Some courtiers who observed the family life of the grand ducal couple whispered that the baby should be called Sergeevich, not Petrovich, after his father. That's probably what happened."

So who should you believe? Petra? Catherine's hints? To the long-lost whispers of the courtiers? Perhaps these paths are already too well-trodden and will not yield anything new.

I wonder what materials Pobedonostsev used. Aren't they portraits of participants in history? After all, facial features are inherited and belong to one of the parents - this was known even before the advent of genetics as a science. We can also do a little analysis using portraits.

They are before us - the “freak” (as Empress Elizabeth called her nephew in anger) Peter, the handsome Sergei and the loving Catherine. The latter recalled her young self as follows: “They said that I was as beautiful as day and amazingly good; To tell the truth, I never considered myself extremely beautiful, but I was liked, and I believe that this was my strength.” The Frenchman Favier, who saw Catherine in 1760 (she was then 31 years old), subjected her appearance to a rather harsh assessment: “It’s impossible to say that her beauty is dazzling: a rather long, in no way flexible waist, noble posture, but her gait is cutesy, not graceful.” ; the chest is narrow, the face is long, especially the chin; a constant smile on the lips, but the mouth is flat, depressed; the nose is somewhat hunched; small eyes, but a lively, pleasant look; traces of smallpox are visible on the face. She is more beautiful than ugly, but you can’t get carried away with her.”

These and other assessments can be found in N. Pavlenko’s book “Catherine the Great”. Interesting in themselves, they confirm the correspondence of the descriptions and the portrait, we can use it with complete confidence.

Sergei Vasilyevich Saltykov is also long-faced, his facial features are proportional, his eyes are almond-shaped, his lips are small and elegant, his forehead is high, his nose is straight and long. Catherine wrote about him: “he was as beautiful as day, and, of course, no one could compare with him, either at the big court, much less at ours. He had no lack of intelligence, nor of that store of knowledge, manners and techniques that great society and especially the court provide.”

Peter III Catherine Sergei Saltykov

Paul I (child portrait) Paul I adult (graphic sketch)

Rice. 1. “Parents” and son (fragments of portraits were used).

In comparison with them, Pyotr Fedorovich, of course, is catastrophically inferior in appearance - and is distinguished by a number of traits that only he could leave to his descendant. His face is quite round, even cheekbones. The forehead is sloping, the nose is shorter than that of Ekaterina and Sergei Saltykov, very wide at the bridge of the nose, the mouth is large, the eyes are narrow and set wide apart. And he was also ticklish.

Portraits of Paul show a clear resemblance to Peter. Especially adult portraits. The same face shape, sloping forehead, large mouth, short nose - even remembering the possibility of the existence of recessive traits, Saltykov and Ekaterina (both “beautiful as day”) of such an ugly descendant, whom Admiral Chichagov called “a snub-nosed Chukhon with the movements of a machine gun,” would not have done it. If Pavel’s father had been Sergei Saltykov, the shape of the face and forehead would have been different, the lips and nose would have been different - since Catherine and Saltykov had them similar, sharply different from Peter’s features. And, one must think, the character would have been different. There are so many features of Peter in Pavel’s face that you don’t even need a DNA test to say definitely - yes, Sergei Saltykov was not Pavel’s father. It was Peter III.

By the way, by the date of birth it is clear that the heir turned out to be a typical fruit of the holidays - so Catherine remembers that she celebrated the New Year with the Empress - of course, with her husband. Apparently, that night, after the celebration, the future Paul was conceived.

The opinion of S. Mylnikov is confirmed that Saltykov’s paternity was deliberately played up by Ekaterina. There is no doubt who her son's real father was - she knew very well. Probably for this reason she behaved extremely coldly towards Pavel. As a child, she quietly left him in the care of nannies and did not see him for weeks. She wanted to force her already adult son to renounce his right to the throne in favor of his grandson, Alexander.

This little story once again confirms the description given to Catherine by the historian Ya. Barskov: “Lies were the queen’s main tool: all her life, from early childhood to old age, she used this tool, wielded it like a virtuoso, and deceived her parents, lovers, and subjects. , foreigners, contemporaries and descendants." The records of Catherine’s lies were her stories about the situation of Russian peasants: “Our taxes are so light that there is not a man in Russia who does not have a chicken whenever he wants, and for some time they have preferred turkeys to chickens” (letter to Voltaire, 1769) and “It used to happen before, driving through villages, you would see little children in only a shirt, running barefoot in the snow; Now there is not a single one who does not have an outer dress, a sheepskin coat and boots. Although the houses are still wooden, they have expanded and most of them are on two floors” (letter to Bjelke, a friend of his mother, 1774). Peasants living in two-story huts, with children dressed in sheepskin coats and boots, preferring turkeys to chickens - there is, of course, an almost Manila dream in this and not only an element of deception, but also self-deception.

It was he who added to Pavel’s two fathers a third contender, Emelyan Pugachev. It must be said that it is an amazing irony of history: one future emperor has three fathers. The phantom Potemkin villages for which his mother's reign became famous. The phantasmagoria of his own reign with the non-existent but career-making lieutenant Kizhe (even though this is Tynyanov’s fiction, it is, as they say, completely authentic). A parricide son who either died in Taganrog or in Siberia. Everything seems to be imbued with that original fantasy of Catherine. Indeed, lies have long legs.

But what could Catherine do? Her role was that of a tightrope walker. Those who, in those daring times, did not understand that power had to be shared with a fairly wide circle, ended badly - take, for example, Catherine’s husband and son. The Empress, with her big plans, will and efficiency, was not the worst of the Russian monarchs based on the results of her reign. But she had to give up most of her good aspirations. One should also not attribute the merits of Russia at that time to her alone - the people with whom she had to get along and trust important posts were no less responsible for the country’s successes.

However, the government, which must constantly resort to lies and create illusions, causes skepticism. While acting well in the external sphere, Catherine turned out to be decidedly weak in solving internal problems. Having given the imperial framework created by Peter the Great an outward shine, it failed to do anything about the negative aspects of his reforms. So we had to turn a blind eye to the state of the country, deceive and be deceived.

F.S. Rokotov Portrait of A.G. Bobrinsky as a child

Alexei Grigorievich was the illegitimate son of Empress Catherine II and Grigory Grigorievich Orlov. The future founder of the Bobrinsky family was born in the Winter Palace on April 11 (April 22, new style) 1762. Immediately upon birth, the baby was given by Catherine II to her wardrobe master Vasily Grigorievich Shkurin, in whose family he was raised until 1774, along with Shkurin’s sons.

F. S. Rokotov. PortraitCatherineII .

A. I. Cherny (Chernov). Portrait of Count G. G. Orlov. Copper, enamel. State Hermitage Museum

By order of the Empress, the child was taken and handed over to I.I. in 1775. Betsky, and Catherine II decided to assign the child, who bore the name Alexey Grigorievich, the surname Bobrinsky, after the name of the village of Spassky, also known as Bobriki, Epifansky district, Tula province, purchased for his financial support back in 1763, by order of Catherine II, from Ladyzhensky .

The child, according to Betsky, was of a weak constitution, fearful, timid, shy, insensitive to anything, but meek and obedient. At the age of 13, his knowledge was limited only to the French and German languages, the beginnings of arithmetic and very little information from geography.

Khristinek, Karl Ludwig - Portrait of Count Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky

Soon Bobrinsky was placed in the ground cadet corps, where he was under the special supervision of Ribas (who was the censor in the corps at that time), and continued to visit Betsky, whose favor he apparently enjoyed. In 1782, Bobrinsky completed a course of study in the corps and was awarded a smaller gold medal and the rank of army lieutenant. Soon he was promoted to lieutenant in the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment and was sent on leave to travel around Russia and abroad, according to the regulations of the cadet corps of that time, along with other best students of his graduating class. Betskoy then wrote instructions for the trip and instructed Colonel Alexei Mikhailovich Bushuev (who informed Betsky about the trip in detail) to accompany the young people, as well as Academician Ozeretskovsky, who made the entire trip with them throughout Russia.

The Bobrinsky mansion is one of the best and most complete examples of lordly architecture of the late 18th century. The house was built by the architect Luigi Rusca.

Bobrinsky visited Moscow, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Bilimbaevsky plant, Ufa, Simbirsk, Saratov, Astrakhan, Kizlyar, Taganrog, Kherson, Kyiv and then arrived in Warsaw, from where he set off on a further journey through Europe. He visited Vienna, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, Turin, Geneva, Bobrinsky finally arrived with his companions in Paris in the spring of 1785.
The entire trip was made with money received from St. Petersburg by Bobrinsky, in the amount of three thousand rubles per month, and interest on the capital deposited in his name in the guardianship council of Catherine II.

(Portrait of Count A.G. Bobrinsky in a fancy dress

On the back there is a paper sticker that says that the portrait was found in the attic of the Bobrinsky house (on Galernaya Street in St. Petersburg). His face really does resemble his mother.)

At that time, this capital was managed by Betsky, who regularly transferred money to Bobrinsky abroad through banks, which soon became a source of discord and displeasure between Bobrinsky and his companions, as well as Betsky. The companions, in need of money, constantly asked Bobrinsky for it, who reluctantly granted such requests and often even rejected them completely.
Bushuev said on this occasion: “it is hardly possible to find another young man like him (Bobrinsky) who would love property so much” (November 9); or, in another place: “I urged him to at least think about his comrades that they do not have money... for this he wanted to assign them an amount, but until now he has not given it... it is difficult to describe all the troubles of our situation.”

The reason for such prudence was that Bobrinsky did not escape the natural hobbies of his years for women and games and began to need money himself. He wrote about this to the Empress, complaining about Betsky’s failure to send him money, who soon ordered Bushuev to “immediately return to St. Petersburg with all his companions.” Bobrinsky was allowed to stay if he did not want to return.

Bobrinsky did not go to Russia, continued to live in Paris and received, by order of Catherine, 74,426 rubles, in addition to the monthly money he received. At the same time, the Empress wrote to the famous Melchior Grimm about Bobrinsky, entrusted the young man to his careful care, asked to arrange the latter’s financial affairs in Paris and, if necessary, to provide him with money up to a thousand louis d’or, but no more.

Portrait. 1790.

At the end of 1787, Bobrinsky moved from Paris to London, but did not stay there long. According to Komarovsky, a person familiar to Bobrinsky suddenly left for Paris, and Bobrinsky immediately followed her.
Meanwhile, the Russian ambassador in London, Count S.R. Vorontsov, received an order from the Empress on January 3, 1788, to demand an immediate return to Russia through Riga. Count P.V. Zavadovsky, who instead of I.P. Betsky was entrusted with guardianship over Bobrinsky, wrote to the same Vorontsov so that he would make an effort to send Bobrinsky as soon as possible, but not let him feel that in St. Petersburg they were dissatisfied with his behavior.

On February 5, 1788, Grimm reported to Vorontsov that Bobrinsky, having spent only three days in Paris in great secrecy, went back to London, promising to return soon and go with the said person to Italy. Despite Vorontsov’s convictions to go to Russia as soon as possible, Bobrinsky still hesitated to leave.
Only on April 27, the Empress informed Grimm about Bobrinsky’s arrival in Riga, from where he was sent to live in Revel; at the same time, Zavadovsky was sent to Revel to organize his affairs and to explain things to him.

While abroad, Bobrinsky was successively promoted from lieutenant to second captain (January 1, 1785).
In Reval, Bobrinsky soon shook himself off from foreign impressions, repented of his lifestyle abroad, expressed a desire to enter active service and asked, as a special favor, permission to appear in St. Petersburg and fall at the feet of the Empress.
Catherine II answered him that she had forgotten his past behavior and assigned him, for his own correction, the city of Revel as his place of residence, in which he of course missed, but could easily correct himself. Regarding Bobrinsky's request to come to the capital, the Empress added that Zavadovsky would inform him when the time came to leave Revel.

Soon after this, Bobrinsky asked for his dismissal from the captains of the Horse Guards. This request was granted, and on June 18, 1790, he was dismissed with the rank of foreman.
Bobrinsky spent the remaining years of the reign of Catherine II in Reval, despite a secondary request for permission to come to St. Petersburg. Zavadovsky, as a guardian, took care of putting his affairs in order and paying his debts and sent him money for living.

Ober Palen Castle from above

With the Highest permission, Bobrinsky in 1794 bought himself an estate in Livonia, near the city of Yuryev (Dorpta), Ober-Palen castle, and on January 16, 1796 he married the girl Baroness Anna Vladimirovna Ungern-Sternberg (born January 9, 1769, died 28 March 1846), whose parents owned the Kirna estate near Revel, where Bobrinsky often visited them and met his future wife.

Soon after the wedding, Bobrinsky and his wife came to St. Petersburg for a very short time, the Empress and his wife appeared, were kindly received, but again returned to Ober-Palen, where he lived until the death of Empress Catherine II.

Married to Baroness Anna Ungern-Sternberg (1769-1846), he had children:

Maria Alekseevna (1798-1835), married to the chamberlain, Prince Nikolai Sergeevich Gagarin (1784-1842). According to her contemporaries, she was smart and educated; she died suddenly in great suffering.

Alexey Alekseevich (1800-1868), famous agriculturalist and sugar refiner.
He was married to maid of honor Sofya Alexandrovna Samoilova (1797-1866), daughter of Count A. N. Samoilov.

Pavel Alekseevich (1801-1830), staff captain, killed in a duel in Florence. He was married in 1822 to Yulia Stanislavovna Sobakina, née Yunosha-Belinskaya (1804-1892) and had 2 sons and 3 daughters.

Vasily Alekseevich (1804-1874), served in the Life Guards Hussar Regiment, Decembrist.

On November 11, 1796, Prosecutor General Count Samoilov informed Bobrinsky of the Highest command of the new Emperor to come to St. Petersburg, “and Bobrinsky can leave it freely whenever he pleases.” He was not slow to take advantage of this and appeared to Paul I, and on November 12, 1796, being a retired brigadier, he was appointed commander of the fourth squadron of the Life Guards Horse Guards and elevated to the dignity of count of the Russian Empire, together with his recently born son Alexei. (This son died June 20, 1797). In addition, Paul I granted Bobrinsky the huge house of Prince Orlov (the so-called Stegelman House; a little later this house was purchased from Bobrinsky for the Alexander Orphan Institute).

On the day of the Emperor’s coronation, April 5 (April 19), 1797, Bobrinsky was promoted to major general, with retention in the horse guards, and on June 31 he was granted a command in the Gdov district, consisting of 11 villages, awarded to the Knight of the Order of St. Anne of the first degree .
But already on September 17 of the same year, Major General of the Horse Guards Count Bobrinsky, who commanded the second battalion of it, was ordered to be in the army and wear a common cavalry uniform, and on December 24, 1797, he was accepted as one of the honorary guardians of the council at the St. Petersburg orphanage.

Then, on September 2, 1798, he was dismissed from military service, and on September 25, he resigned his title as honorary guardian and retired to the Tula province, in Bogoroditsk, where he lived for most of the year, continuing to visit Ober Palen and St. Petersburg.
He was engaged in agriculture, mineralogy and astronomy, and above his house on Galernaya Street he built a turret that served him as an observatory.

At the end of his life, Bobrinsky, according to contemporaries, stopped caring about his appearance, only occasionally, in front of guests, he hastily put some kind of wig on his large, prematurely bald head, often on one side. He wore greasy clothes and went for walks in an old-fashioned gray frock coat, the pockets of which were filled with coins that he distributed to the poor.
Bobrinsky was buried in the family crypt in Bobriki. The Bobrinsky burial place was destroyed in the 1920s. XX century, but restored in 2003

The life of the great autocrat was filled with bright events. There were legends about Catherine the Great's love of love. What do we know about the children of the empress? How many of them were there in reality and what secrets are associated with their birth?

After two unsuccessful pregnancies, in 1754 Ekaterina Alekseevna gave birth to a son, Pavel. The birth was difficult, and the baby was immediately taken away from the mother by the will of reigning Elizabeth Petrovna. The young princess could only occasionally see her son.

A number of sources claim that Pavel’s biological father was Sergei Vasilyevich Saltykov, Ekaterina Alekseevna’s first favorite, who became the Russian envoy to France and Germany. There is even an opinion that Paul was not at all the son of the future empress, who actually gave birth to a daughter. The boy was the illegitimate son of Elizabeth Petrovna herself. And the children were deliberately replaced. Whatever the truth, the fact remains that the great empress and her eldest son never had a warm relationship.

In 1757, Ekaterina Alekseevna gave birth to a daughter. The child’s name was given “Anna” in honor of his late paternal grandmother, Tsarevna Anna Petrovna. The future Peter III, although he recognized the child, tried in every possible way to prick his wife with suspicion and once spoke out like this: “God knows where my wife gets her pregnancy from, I don’t really know if this is my child and whether I should take it personally.” "

At baptism, Anna Petrovna was awarded the Order of St. Catherine, 1st degree. And Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov wrote an ode in honor of the birth of the Grand Duchess. But, unfortunately, the girl lived less than two years.

Catherine II had special love and tenderness for her illegitimate son Alyosha, born from Grigory Orlov. It is curious that Catherine managed to hide from her husband not only her pregnancy, but also... childbirth! She ordered the servant to distract her husband with an impromptu fire. Pyotr Fedorovich loved to look at burning houses. And when he returned from the “fun”, the child was no longer in the palace.

The first time Catherine saw her son was only a year after birth. But even being separated from him, she actively arranged Alexei’s life: she bought estates, sent cadets to school, and supplied him with money. Alyosha received an estate in Bobriki (by the way, according to legend, a newborn boy was carried away on a beaver skin) and became the ancestor of the Bobrinsky count family. According to eyewitnesses, Catherine’s illegitimate son grew up weak, quiet and fearful. Subsequently, the spoiled young man became interested in women and gambling. And, while in Europe, he incurred a lot of debts, which caused the dissatisfaction of the empress, who, as punishment, determined the location of the unlucky young man in the fortified city of Revel.

In 1794, with the Highest permission, Bobrinsky bought himself an estate in Livonia, and in 1796 he married Baroness Ungern-Sternberg. Soon after the wedding, shortly before the death of Catherine II, Bobrinsky and his wife visited St. Petersburg, where they were kindly received by their mother, the Empress.

In his marriage to Anna Vladimirovna Bobrinskaya, née Baroness Ungern-Sternberg, Alexey Grigorievich had four children.

According to one version, Catherine II allegedly had an illegitimate daughter, Elizaveta Tyomkina, from Prince Grigory Potemkin-Tavrichesky, but this version has no documentary evidence and remains only an assumption. It is connected with the fact that in 1775 a baby unexpectedly appeared in the prince’s house. The girl was named Elizaveta Grigorievna Tyomkina. The mysterious appearance of the child could not help but give rise to rumors. They began to whisper at court that this was the child of the empress herself. Indeed, there are many strange coincidences in this story. So, according to the official version, the empress suffered poisoning due to unwashed fruit. Presumably the birth took place in Moscow during the celebration of the peace treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, which ended the Russian-Turkish war.

Opponents of the version point to Catherine’s advanced age, who by that time was already well over 40. In addition, the Empress was never interested in the fate of this child, unlike Alexei Bobrinsky. Therefore, the girl’s mother could be one of the many mistresses of Catherine’s favorite.

There is a historical anecdote about how Alexander III instructed Chief Prosecutor Pobedonostsev to find out who the father of Paul I was: Catherine II’s lover Sergei Saltykov or her legal husband Peter III. First, the dignitary informed the emperor that the rumors about Saltykov’s paternity were confirmed, to which he replied: “Thank God, we are Russians!” When Pobedonostsev later found evidence in favor of Peter III, Alexander III no less joyfully declared: “Thank God, we are legitimate!”

Save Russia!

The aging Elizaveta Petrovna increasingly realized that in choosing Peter III (grandson of Peter the Great) as heir to the throne, she had made a mistake. The scion of the Holstein-Gottorp dynasty stubbornly showed no interest in state affairs; moreover, he worshiped the Prussians, was idle and drank heavily.

The only thing that remained for Elizabeth was to wait for the birth of an heir from the crowned couple in order to formally remove Peter from power. But here another problem arose. After 8 years of marriage, Peter and Catherine still had no children.

Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin, realizing that this could wait until the end of the century, frankly reported to the Empress that Peter and Catherine did not have an intimate relationship. Elizabeth allegedly responded to this: “Save Russia, save the state, save everything, figure out what to do - act as you see fit.”

The cunning chancellor came up with a simple solution. He proposed bringing the handsome chamberlain Sergei Saltykov closer to Catherine, who was languishing alone, and moving her husband to the far part of the palace. Elizabeth moved on. In order to finally separate Catherine and Peter into different bedrooms, she gave the latter the Lyubertsy estate near Moscow.

“Sergei Saltykov made me understand the reason for his frequent visits,” Ekaterina recalled. “I continued to listen to him, he was as beautiful as day, and, of course, no one could compare with him at court. He was 25 years old, in general, both by birth and by many other qualities, he was an outstanding gentleman. I didn’t give in all spring and part of the summer.”

Next, Catherine describes in detail all the stages of her romance, right up to her rapprochement with Saltykov in the summer of 1752. In December of the same year she became pregnant, but on the way to Moscow she had a miscarriage. The second pregnancy also ended in miscarriage in May 1753. Subsequently, the lovers separated, and in April 1754 Saltykov was removed from the court. And in September 1754, the Grand Duchess gave birth to her long-awaited first child.

Incriminating evidence

Catherine’s notes, albeit indirectly, still hint that Peter III has nothing to do with Paul. Emperor Alexander II was so impressed by the revelations of his great-grandmother that he tried to shed light on his ancestry in conversations with old courtiers.

Rumors that Paul was Catherine’s illegitimate son were also fueled by the fact that the heir appeared only in the 10th year of the fruitless union. In addition, from Catherine’s diaries we know that her husband suffered from phimosis before the surgery, and this could seriously interfere with the intimate contacts of the spouses.

Peter was more interested not in the charms of young Catherine, but in military maneuvers. He was also partial to the weaker sex, but he gave preference to stupid ugly girls. Until the summer of 1752, Catherine was still an involuntary virgin.

On Easter 1752, the maid of honor Choglokova introduced the Grand Duchess to two handsome men - Sergei Saltykov and Lev Naryshkin, who immediately began to vigorously court the unapproachable Catherine. In order to somehow stir her up, Choglokova, in communicating with her, implanted the idea that adultery, of course, is a condemned thing, but there are “positions of a higher order for which an exception should be made.” And Catherine made her choice.

In addition to Catherine's memoirs, another document - the report of Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin to Empress Elizabeth - may also indicate that the mission entrusted to Saltykov was completed. There are the following lines:

“What was drawn, according to the wise consideration of Your Majesty, took on a good and desired beginning - the presence of the executor of Your Majesty’s highest will is now not only not necessary here, but even to achieving perfect fulfillment and concealing the secret for eternal times would be harmful. Based on these considerations, you are pleased, most gracious empress, to command Chamberlain Saltykov to be Your Majesty’s ambassador in Stockholm to the King of Sweden.”

In other words: “The Moor has done his job, the Moor can leave.” At that time, an honorary exile was awarded to someone who did their job well in the interests of the state.

The version about the paternity of Sergei Saltykov was supported by the Soviet historian Nikolai Pavlenko, who, in particular, wrote: “Some courtiers who observed the family life of the grand ducal couple whispered that the baby should be called Sergeevich, not Petrovich, after his father. That's probably what happened."

Chukhon version

The mystery surrounding the birth of Paul I was never resolved. Over time, new rumors began to appear. There was a rumor spread by the writer Alexander Herzen in 1861 during his “London sitting”. In the 20th century, it was resurrected by the writer Nathan Eidelman, who published the historical essay “Reverse Providence” in the New World magazine.

According to this version, the third child, whom Catherine conceived from Saltykov, was also born dead, and desperate Elizabeth ordered an urgent replacement of the baby. A living child was found nearby, in the village of Kotly, in a Chukhon family.

So that Catherine would not suspect a substitution, the Empress did not allow her to look at her son for more than a month. Exhausted by childbirth, the Grand Duchess was abandoned to the mercy of fate, left without proper care. According to Herzen, the “empty and evil Empress Elizabeth” wanted the woman in labor to die.

No matter how fantastic this story looks, it had witnesses. At that time, near the village of Kotly there was the estate of Karl Tizenhausen. The young aristocrat remembered very well that in one night the village was wiped off the face of the earth, and its inhabitants were loaded onto carts and taken to Kamchatka.

In the early 1820s, an event occurred that can also confirm the “Chukhon legend.” A certain Afanasy arrived from Kamchatka to St. Petersburg, declaring himself the brother of the late Paul I. The too talkative old man, of course, was sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress.

However, a member of the State Duma, Dmitry Lanskoy, told his nephew, the writer Alexander Odoevsky, that Emperor Alexander Pavlovich secretly visited an old man at night who looked like his late father, talked to him for a long time about something and often sighed.

Doubts remain

Many researchers, including Sergei Aldanov, are confident that Catherine in her notes deliberately created the impression that Pavel’s father was not her husband. Not everyone trusts what Ekaterina wrote. Thus, the historian Yakov Barskov believed: “Lies were the queen’s main tool: all her life, from early childhood to old age, she used this tool, mastered it like a virtuoso.”

According to historians, Catherine had to justify her seizure of power in various ways. Since her husband's overthrow, she has made up so many stories about him and their relationship that it is extremely difficult to separate fact from fiction. Catherine benefited from the bad reputation of her son - a direct competitor in the struggle for the throne. And fueling rumors about his illegitimacy in this sense was an effective weapon.

Alexander Mylnikov, the author of a book about Peter III, notes that Catherine was afraid of potential supporters of Paul, who could demand the throne for a ruler of royal blood and get rid of the foreigner who had usurped power. The historian has no doubt that Catherine knew very well who Paul’s real father was, which is why she behaved very formally and coldly with him.

Peter III himself considered Paul his son. And if he declared this so confidently, it means that there was still an intimate relationship between him and Catherine. Melnikov in his book compares the notice of the birth of his son, sent by Peter to Frederick II, with a similar notice of the birth of his daughter Anna, who was from Catherine’s next lover, Stanislav Poniatovsky. There is a huge difference between them.

Paul repeatedly heard gossip about his origins, and this left an indelible mark on his soul. Chulkov in the book “Emperors: Psychological Portraits” wrote: “He himself was convinced that Peter III was really his father.”

It is enough to compare the portraits of Peter III and Sergei Saltykov to understand who Pavel is more like. Many of Paul's contemporaries claim that Ekaterina and Saltykov, “both beautiful as day,” could not give birth to such an ugly offspring, whom Admiral Chichagov called “a snub-nosed Chukhon with the movements of a machine gun.”

There is one more thing. As can be seen from the date of birth (September 20), Paul was most likely a product of the New Year holidays. And, as you know, the spouses celebrated them together. However, the final verdict on this pressing issue could be made by a genetic examination of the remains of our courtiers. However, it is unlikely that they will do it as long as there is even the slightest suspicion that Paul I was not of Romanov blood.

The fate of Catherine the Great's children. If we include Elizaveta Temkina among the empress’s children, then Catherine gave birth to two boys and two girls.

Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna - future Empress Catherine II

Empress Catherine the Great is one of the most prominent women in the political history of Russia. Having married Elizabeth's son Peter III, she was not happy in her marriage. However, due to her brilliant mind, healthy ambition, and natural charisma, she managed to organize the overthrow of her unpopular husband, ascend to the throne, and successfully ruled the Russian Empire from 1762 to 1796.

Catherine's weak, lethargic husband was able to become a father only once. In her marriage to Peter III, the nee Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst gave birth to the future Russian Emperor Paul I. Meanwhile, her bright appearance, good education, cheerful disposition and statesmanship gave Catherine not only the opportunity to decide the destinies of the country.

The empress's personal life was turbulent, often scandalous, and the number of favorites exceeded two dozen. The most famous lovers of Catherine were Grigory Orlov, Sergei Saltykov, Grigory Potemkin. The Empress became the mother of three children: the legally recognized Pavel, Anna and the illegitimate son Alexei. However, some historians suggest that Catherine gave birth to another child - Elizabeth. Disputes about this last motherhood of the empress have not subsided to this day.

Children of Catherine the Great, their fate is the subject of close attention of historians. If we include Elizaveta Temkina among the empress’s children, then Catherine gave birth to two boys and two girls.

Paul I

The legitimate heir to the throne, Paul I, was born on September 20, 1754, after ten years of his parents' unhappy, childless marriage. Immediately after birth and the first cry, the newborn was taken by his grandmother, the reigning Empress Elizabeth. In fact, she removed the mother and father of the child from raising her.

There are two versions regarding the secret of the birth of this child. According to the first, Pavel’s biological father was Catherine’s favorite Sergei Saltykov. However, the portrait resemblance between Peter III and Paul I makes this version very weak.

According to another version, the mother of the child was not Catherine at all, but Elizabeth. Proponents of this theory explain the actual separation of a child from his parents by this.

Thematic material:

Pavel received a brilliant upbringing, became fascinated by the idea of ​​chivalry, but was not happy. The first wife, Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt, died in childbirth. In his second marriage to Maria Feodorovna, née Sophia of Württemberg, ten children were born. Relations with the reigning mother were cold and strained due to the complete dissimilarity of ideological positions and mutual dislike.

Paul was crowned at the age of 42 in 1796. Immediately after ascending the throne, he began political reforms, but four years later he was assassinated.

Anna Petrovna

The legally recognized daughter of Catherine the Great was born on December 9, 1757. Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, who had yet to become Peter III, was not her father, although he recognized the girl. The child was named Anna in honor of the sister of the reigning Empress Elizabeth, Anna Petrovna. The child was named, of course, by the grandmother, who again actively intervened in her daughter-in-law’s personal life.

The girl's real father was Stanislav Poniatovsky, who arrived in Russia as an ambassador of Saxony a year before Anna's birth. A few weeks before the birth of his daughter, Poniatowski was expelled from Russia. In the future he became the king of Poland.

Anna Petrovna did not stay long in this world. She lived just over a year and died of smallpox in February 1759.

Alexey Bobrinsky

Catherine's illegitimate son from her favorite Grigory Orlov was born in April 1762. The child was named Alexei and sent to be raised in the family of the Tsar's chamberlain Shkurin. The child was born a few months before the overthrow of Peter III, so for the first time after birth, Catherine saw the baby only a year later. She did not immediately reveal the secret of her birth to her son. The young man was raised with Shkurin’s sons until he was 12 years old, studied with them abroad, and then was sent to the Ground Cadet Corps.

For many years he traveled around Russia and Europe, and in 1788 he settled in Revel. Married Baroness Anna Ungern-Sternberg. After the death of his mother, he was unexpectedly kindly received by Emperor Paul I, to whom Catherine revealed the secret and handed over the relevant documents. The children of Catherine the Great were thus spiritually reunited: Paul officially recognized the existence of his brother.

In 1796, Bobrinsky received the title of count and settled in the Tula province on the estates given to him by his mother. He was interested in sciences (medicine, geography), alchemy, and conducted agricultural experiments.

Died in 1813.

Elizaveta Temkina

A very controversial theory is that in 1775 Catherine the Great gave birth to her second daughter Elizabeth, who received her father’s surname at birth. In those days, illegitimate children of high-born families were named after their parents' surname, cutting off the first syllable. This is how Elizaveta Temkina was born.

There is nothing particularly unusual about this theory. The relationship between Potemkin and Catherine the Great was very strong (there were rumors about their secret marriage), and on the day the baby was born, 46-year-old Catherine was still of childbearing age. Supporters of the theory are also supported by the fact that for several days before and after giving birth, the empress did not appear in public, saying she was ill.

However, skeptics argue that the birth of a healthy child at Catherine’s age was extremely unlikely in those days. In addition, Catherine did not feel any interest or sympathy for the girl.

One way or another, after the death of Count Potemkin, Elizabeth was given her father's estates in the Kherson region. She happily married Ivan Kalageorgi, who was brought up in the palace, next to the son of Paul I, Grand Duke Constantine. The couple had ten children. Elizaveta Temkina died at the ripe old age of 78.

The fates of Catherine's children developed differently. However, they are all shrouded in the great shadow of one of the most brilliant women in the political history of Russia.